Business
Agriculture, Solution To Hunger, Restiveness – SMEDAN
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has pledged to sustain the human capacity enhancement of operators of the agricultural value chain, saying involvement in agriculture is the solution to hunger and restiveness.
SMEDAN’s representative, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, said it was consistent with delivering its mandate to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) subsector.
He said modalities were in place to ensure a hitch-free stakeholders engagement with regulators, enhancers, Business Development Support Providers (BDSPs), aggregators and off-takers of agricultural products.
He said the objective of the forum was to create awareness for the agency‘s Product and Marketing Enhancement Scheme (PAMES) and also solicit a buy-in from related stakeholders for more impact and output.
“SMEDAN has over the years in conjunction with other critical stakeholders promoted subsidised entrepreneurship capacity building to MSMEs.
“This is as a down payment for realising human capacity enhancement of operators within the sub sector which has long been identified as one of the most limiting factors affecting business growth.
“In line with this, the agency will engage with regulators, enhancers, BDSPs aggregators and off takers of agricultural products under the PAMES programme”, Mohammed said.
According to him, PAMES has been initiated to assist Micro Small Enterprises in agro allied business access business and technical support services, product development and market access to promote competitiveness and business growth.
“SMEDAN under the leadership of Mr Olawale Fasanya would sustain the tempo in the realisation of human capacity enhancement of operators of the agricultural value chain.
“The agency will continue to support Nigerian MSMEs so as to boost the nation’s economy”, Mohammed said.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
